Christmas is a time of joy, piece, and giving. It is also a time of being broke. Adults often think that the idea of making Christmas gifts is only for children who do not yet have their own money to buy gifts. However, with a little bit of ingenuity, some clever shopping, and a fair amount of free time, you can make some very grown up do it yourself Christmas gifts.

The first step is to spend an afternoon at a craft store, and see what sticks out at you as things you would be comfortable sitting down to work on. Some very basic, but very nice final product ideas include:

(1) Knit caps. If you have time to pick up crocheting or knitting, Christmas is a perfect time of year to put that talent to good use. You can make knit caps, mittens and scarves for men and women alike on your holiday shopping list. With all of the different available colors and textures in yarns today, it is virtually limitless what you can do to personalize a knitted gift. For some extra special fun, you can work in some fun beads fairly easily to jazz up a more basic design.

(2) Pick up some shadow box frames at the art store, and make some personal home decorations. For example, if you have someone on your list who is a big fan of Beethoven, you can create a shadowbox picture with some music notes in the background with a copy of a Beethoven songbook and maybe a dollhouse piano in the frame. Stuff like the dollhouse furniture as well as lots of great designs for backgrounds and the like can usually be found in the scrapbook section of your favorite craft store.

(3) Jewelry is a great personal do it yourself gift. There are all different skill levels for creating your own jewelry, and lots of different pieces that you can purchase to make your gift as professional looking and beautiful as you want. If you go to a good bead store, they will have lots of different settings on which to put earrings and a great selection of different and interesting beads for you to use. The best part though, is that they have expertise. With a little bit of help from the experts, you can make beautiful, one of a kind jewelry for less than a dollar a piece.

(4) Ornaments are a great way to celebrate the Christmas season. There are so many different ways to create your own unique ornaments, that you could make a different type of ornament for nearly everyone on your list. You could cross-stitch some ornaments, hand paint a box of regular glass ornaments, create egg shell ornaments with glitter or paint, make picture frame ornaments, bead Holiday shapes with pipe cleaners and pony beads, string some Hawaiian flowers for a funky tree garland, or just put a glittery hook on a plain ornament bulb. The best part about this gift, is that you get to see it every year on your loved one’s Christmas tree.